de Chinampas & Baldío—Mexico City
Pablo Usobiaga, a former lawyer, left his practice to restore one of the world’s oldest agricultural systems. As co-founder of Arcaterra de Chinampas, he works with 50+ farming families to revive Mexico City’s ancient floating gardens. These chinampas have fed communities for over 4,000 years. Arcaterra now supplies 70+ restaurants, including Pujol, Quintonil, and Rosetta, with regeneratively grown produce. Nearly 18,000 visitors experience this living heritage annually.
The Work
From the chinampa network grew Baldío, Mexico City’s first zero-waste restaurant. Pablo co-founded it with his brother Lucio Usobiaga and Doug McMaster of Silo London (closed December 20, 2025). Baldío earned a Michelin Green Star in its first year. It’s literal zero-waste: no trash cans. Fish spines ferment into umami. Citrus peels become cheong. Every scrap returns to chinampa soil. The menu shifts weekly with the land’s offerings, proving constraint breeds creativity.
Pablo bridges ancestral farming knowledge and urban tables. His staff wear t-shirts printed with his philosophy: “El Futuro es Ancestral” (The Future is Ancestral).
Why It Matters
Pablo’s work shows hospitality’s invisible systems—supply chains, waste streams, sourcing—can blend efficiency and soul. Arcaterra and Baldío prove restaurants can sustain farmers while delivering exceptional experiences. Zero-waste can taste delicious. Telling a farmer’s story matters more than sustainability lectures.
“When you name someone, when you tell their story, you create a relationship. Relationships change how we eat, value food, and see our connection to the land.”
Support This Work
Arcaterra de Chinampas offers workshops, farm visits, and partnerships that support regenerative agriculture and cultural preservation in one of Mexico’s most vital landscapes.→ Learn more and visit
Baldío is redefining what’s possible in restaurant systems—proving that circular design can sustain both exceptional dining and farming communities.→ Follow their work
Read the full conversation → Reviving the Chinampas: How Pablo Usobiaga Found the Future in the Ancestral— A deeper exploration of indigenous resilience, regenerative systems, and what it means to build the future from ancestral wisdom.
